Artificial Spores

Daewha Hong, Eun Hyea Ko and Insung S. Choi

Recent progresses on cytocompatible encapsulation of living cells have witnessed their new role for constructing artificial spores. Their cell-in-shell structure emulated essential features of natural endospores that are able to survive under harsh environmental conditions, such as malnutrition, osmotic pressure, lytic enzyme, heat, and UV radiation, as well as the control over cell division. The field of artificial spores is not limited to the mimicry behavior of natural endospores, but also includes shell functionalization for developing cell-based sensor, and provides a basic platform for studying single-cell biology.